Transcript

States in the Midwest are considering funding supplemental Amtrak routes… even though President Bush has zeroed out the Amtrak budget. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

About a dozen states contract with Amtrak to provide passenger rail service routes in addition to the national rail network. Some state legislatures have already approved funding the routes for next year. Marc Magliari is a spokesperson for Amtrak. He says several states are looking at the issue right now.

“The legislatures in Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin are still at work on their questions.”

But Amtrak doesn’t really know if it will be around next year. The Bush administration did not put any money in the budget for Amtrak. The White House zeroed out the passenger rail service.

“Zero dollars equals zero trains.”

That means even if the states pay for supplemental service… there might be no trains because all of Amtrak would be eliminated. Neo-conservatives in the Bush administration feel the government should not be subsidizing passenger rail service and are pushing Congress to eliminate the funding.